Refrigeration



Man 31. '1942.

A. D. SIEDLE REFRIGERATION Filed Sept. 5, 1939 Af nold fi. 61:33:

5 @Za/A ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 31, 1942 REFRIGERATION Arnold D. Siedle,Canton, Ohio, assignor to The Hoover Company, North Canton, OhioApplication September 5, 1939, Serial No. 293,396

Claims.

This invention relates to refrigeration and more particularly to an icetray adapted to be positioned in the freezing compartment of a domesticrefrigerator.

When ice trays having a removable grid assembly are placed on theevaporator shelf of a refrigerator and allowed to remain until the iceis frozen the tray will be frozen to the evaporator shelf, the gridassembly, and attached cubes will be frozen into the tray and the cubeswill be frozen to the grid assembly. It is therefore necessary to breakthe bond between the tray and the evaporator shelf, to break the bondbetween the tray walls and the ice and also to break the bonds betweenthe ice and'the grid assembly;-

The usual procedure is'to pry the tray loose from the evaporator shelfby means of some implement, pour water over the bottom of the tray untilthe ice is melted loose therefrom, after which it is necessary to pouradditional water over the grid assembly and attached cubes until thecubes are melted loose therefrom. This procedure is a bothersome anduntidy task and results in a considerable wastage of ice since the cubesare considerably reduced in size by the melting operation.

It has also been proposed to remove the grid assembly and attached cubesfrom the tray by means of mechanical leverage mechanism and then toremove the attached cubes from the grid assembly by hand or by someother leverage means.

These devices have not been entirely satisfactory due to the fact thatit requires the application of a considerable force to remove the gridassembly and attached cubes from the tray and the cubes from the gridassembly. These prior devices are also complicated and expensive tomanufacture and wear out easilynecessitating their periodicalreplacement.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide an ice traywith a grid assembly removably positioned therein having means thereonfor raising the tray from the evaporator shelf, for raising the gridassembly in the tray and for breaking the bond between the gridassembly' (Cl, 62-1085) I It is another object of this invention toprovide an ice tray and grid assembly which is efficient in operation,simple to manufacture, and which will not easily get out of order.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent asthe description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing in which:

Figure 1 showsthe device of the invention positioned on the evaporatorshelf of a domestic refrigerator; l

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the grid assembly according to theinvention in which the grid assembly is shown removed from the tray,and;

Figure '3 shows the grid assembly in a position for breaking the bondbetween the grid assembly and ice frozen thereto.

'Referring to the drawing, the numeral it represents the freezingcompartment of a domestic refrigerator having a bottom I I and a backwall l2.- A bracket I3 is secured to the back wall it of the freezingcompartment. I

The tray it is of standard construction except that a reinforcing plateI5 is suitably secured to the upper edge thereof at its rear end.

The grid assembly is generally indicated at it a and comprises alongitudinal grid member i1 and lateral grid members 22 to form aplurality of ice compartments when positioned in thetray i l.

The longitudinal grid member If is made up of upper and lower sectionsit and it secured together by links 20 and 29. The upper and lowersections is and it are slotted as shown at 23 and 2% to receive thelateral grid members 22 which are slotted at their top and bottom edgesto receive the upper and lower sections it and IQ of the longitudinalgrid member.

The link 2| is extended upwardly above the upper section it of thelongitudinal grid member and a lever 25 of channel shape in crosssectionis pivoted thereto as shown at 26. The lever 25 has a handle portion 21extending downwardly in front of the tray and an extended portion 28which extends beyond the rear end of the tray it when the grid assemblyis positioned therein. 'The extension 28 has cam ,portions it whichcooperate with the reinforcing plate for raising the grid assembly inthe tray. The link if has a portion 36 which cooperates with the bottomof the channel member 25 for moving the upper. and lower sections it andit longitudinally relative to each other. As shown the slots 23 and 2 8are enlarged on opposite sides of the lateral grid members '22 so thatwhen the upper and lower sections I8 and is are moved longitudinallyrelative to each other the lateral grid members will be canted from astraight vertical position. i

The portion 28 of the handle 25 could be.bent downwardly and extended toadjacent the bottom II or the evaporator so that when the lever israised the extended portion would contact with the bottom I land thusraise the tray l4 from the evaporator shelf. In this case the bracket i3would be omitted and it would not be necessary to modify the evaporatorhousing.

placed in the freezing compartment iiiand the water allowed to freeze.When the water is frozen the handle portion 2'! of the lever 25 isgrasped and the lever 25 raised through'a short are as shown in dottedlines of Figure 1.

tact with the bracket l3 on the back wall iii of the freezingcompartment and thus break the bond between the bottom of the tray M andthe evaporator shelf H.

The tray I4 with the grid assembly therein is then removed from theevaporator and the lever 25 movedqthrough a still greater are till thecam portions 29 contact with the plate 55 which will break the bondbetween the ice and the tray wall. The grid assembly and attached icecubes is then removed from the tray and the lever 25 moved through astill greater arc 'until the portion 30 of the link 2| contacts with thebottom of the channel lever 25 as shown in Figure 3 which will move theupper section l8 longitudinally relative to the lower section IQ of thelongitudinal grid member. This movement will cant the lateral gridmembers 22 from a true vertical position and thus break the bond betweenthe cubes and grid assembly.

Since the lever 25 extends the entire length of the tray and ispositioned closely adjacent thereto there will be ample leverage forfirst breaking the bond between the evaporator shelf This will cause theportion 28 of the lever to conand the tray, secondly breaking the bondbe- I tween the ice and the tray wall and then breaking the bond betweenthe individual cubes and the grid assembly and which at the same timewill not take up excessive space in the freezing compartment.

When the sections l8 and I9 are moved longitudinally of each other andthe lateral grid members 22 are canted from a true vertical position theice is sheared from the longitudinal grid member l8 and at the same timethe bond between the ice and the lateral grid members is broken.

As can be seen from the foregoing the device of this invention providesa grid assembly adapted to be positioned in a standard i'ce tray,combined in'a single mechanism with means for first breaking the bondbetween the tray and the evaporator shelf, then between the tray wallsand the ice and then between the grid assembly and the ice, in whichthere are no parts which can be lost 'or misplaced which is eficient inoperation, simple and economical to manufacture and which cannot get outof order.

While Ihave shown but one embodiment of my invention it is to beunderstood that this embodiment is to be taken as illustrative only andnot in a limiting sense. I do not wish to be limited to the particularstructure shown but to include all equivalent variations thereof exceptas limited by the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with an evaporator of a refrigerator having a supportfor an ice tray, an ice tray positioned on said support, a grid assemblyremovably positioned in said tray and means carried by said gridassembly to cooperate with said evaporator for raising the tray from thesupport, said means being so constructed as to raise said grid assemblyand attached cubes from the tray and separate the attached cubes fromthe grid assembly.

2. In combination with an evaporator of a reirigerator having a supportfor an ice tray, an

ice tray positioned on said support, a grid assembly removablypositioned in said tray and lever means carried by said grid assembly soconstructed and arranged as to cooperate with said evaporator and trayto sequentially raise said tray from said support and said grid assemblyand attached cubes from said tray, said means being operative toseparate ice cubes from said grid assembly.

3. In combination with an evaporator of a refrigerator having an icetray supporting shelf, an ice tray positioned on said shelf, a gridassembly removably positioned in said tray and means on said evaporatorcooperating with means carried by said grid assembly for raising saidtray from said shelf, said last named means being so constructed andarranged as'to raise said grid assembly and-attached cubes from saidtray and break the attached cubes from the grid assembly.

.positioned in said tray, said grid assembly comprising longitudinal andlateral grid members, said longitudinal grid member comprising upper andlower sections so constructed as to be movable longitudinally of'eachother, said lateral grid members being so. secured to said longitudinalgrid member as to be canted when said sections are moved relative toeach other,-a lever pivoted on said longitudinal grid member havingmeans thereon to contact means on said evaporator for raising said trayfrom the shelf when the lever is moved through a short are, means onsaid lever adapted to cooperate with the edge of the tray for raisingthe grid assembly in the tray when the lever is moved through a greaterare and means on said lever so constructed as to move the sections ofthe longitudinal grid member I relative to each other when the lever ismoved through a still greaterarc, whereby the lateral grid members arecanted to break the bond be? tween the grid assembly and ice cubesfrozen thereto.

5. In combination with an evaporator having a support for an ice tray,an ice tray on said support, a grid assembly removably positioned, insaid tray, said grid assembly comprising longitudinal and lateral gridmembers, said lateral grid members being movable relative to saidlongitudinal grid member, 1 and means mounted on said grid assemblyincluding means to cooperate with said evaporator to raise said trayfrom said support, to cooperate with said tray to raise said gridassemblyand attached cubes in said tray and to move said lateral gridmembers relative to said longitudinal grid member to release ice fromsaid grid assembly. I

ARNOLD D. SIEDLE.

